Howard Dean: 'You Gotta Blame' The GOP For Some Of Obamacare's Glitches

[kpete]

Howard Dean: 'You Gotta Blame' The GOP For Some Of Obamacare's Glitches

"I think the fundamental flaw was not having multiple districts and multiple bidders and multiple contractors working on this because then what you could have done if one contractor screwed up, as this one clearly has, you could actually just use a different exchange in a different region."

.............

"I think it's a problem, I think the fundamental mistake that was made — well, first of all, in fairness you gotta blame the Republicans for some of this because they delayed everything they possibly could, threw as many monkey wrenches into the process as they could, and there's some success here," Dean said.

"But the truth is, what the Obama administration should have done is divide the 36 states that are on the federal exchange up into four or five regions, do it the way the government does health care. And then put each of these regions out to bid, so you don't have one single contractor who, if they screw up, screws up the whole system, which is what's happened."

He added that the Obama administration was forced to set up a single federal marketplace "because the Republican governors refused to accept exchanges.

"The states with exchanges are doing pretty well," he said. "There's some glitches. They're not big. A lot of people are gonna be able to get their insurance in the 14 states that have their own exchanges."

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MORE:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/howard-dean-you-gotta-blame-the-republicans-for-some-of-obamacare-s-problems

[CTyankee]

1. I'm glad to see the Dems fighting back strenuously against the RW noise about

the ACA website.

Mika was agreeing with Howard. I think a discussion was allowed only because Joe wasn't there today. Otherwise, he would have blocked anyone else talking and would have started yelling and waving his arms. When he does that, I know he knows he's lost the argument...

[Mass]

2. He is very right about that.

[BlueCaliDem]

3. FINALLY! And let's also not forget that House Republicans refused the HHS additional funding when

they were asked.

Politics had set the stage of the Healthcare-gov problems. It was a concerted effort by the GOTP to create the meme - the very one we're seeing all over corporate media - that the PPACA is a failure and that it should be scrapped, never mind the successes in those states that actually care about their constituents (rather than ProfitCare's bottom lines) and opened their own exchanges.

[hedgehog]

4. I 've had my suspicions about this all along, but being

someone who doesn't make up facts to suit myself (unlike Right wingers!), I did not make this claim. Kudos to Governor Dean for putting this out there with the back story!

[ProSense]

5. Complaints for the sake of complaining

Complaints for the sake of complaining
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023912347

[tblue]

6. Oh I blame them alright.

Wouldn't surprise me if there was more to this story, like they're paying somebody to throw a monkey wrench in there. We know how obsessively they despise Obamacare--why wouldn't they sabotage it this way? They are, IMHO.

[Myrina]

7. .. and the contractor at fault will pay back what the gov't paid them or lose contracts, right?

Yes?

[Iliyah]

8. K & R

And now the House GOPers are holding hearings, OMG, with Issa leading the charge. More taxpayers money going down the drain, but alas, it will only make OBAMACARE stronger. These people live on another reality plain but have the corporate media to spew their biddings.

[loudsue]

9. Because Democrats know HOW to govern

They are responsible adults.

[albino65]

10. DOS?

I know there are a lot of problems with the ACA website, but I am not sure you can count out a coordinated DOS attack by right wing nut jobs. We already know that they use bots and trolls to disrupt discourse on many news forums. I'm also sure that a large number of people were just there "kicking tires " rather than actively seeking health insurance. Also, some of the contractors may not have been giving their best in the run up to roll out due to being disheartened by the controversy and obstructionism by the GOP. If they thought that it was likely that the ACA would fail to launch, they may have seen little prospect in their work. We need to take the example of Kentucky and press our state lawmakers to institute state exchanges. No matter, the media grabs hold of the failures and never the successes.

[mopinko]

15. i am sure the lack of state systems put a huge burden on the feds.

or bullshit ones like cheapskate pat quinn embarrassed us with here in illinois. ask 3 questions and it kicks you into the fed system.
here in deep blue illinois, obama's home, with some of the best tech companies and tech workers in the country embarrassed to be trailing far behind god damned kentucky. i'm so pissed at quinn. so pissed.

[libdem4life]

11. Thanks, Howard and TPM. Now, on to the MSM?

[tblue37]

12. As head of the DNC Dean gave us the wildly successful

50-state strategy, which the next guy immediately dismantled, to disastrous effect.

Dean is always on the mark. If those who control our party would LISTEN to him and if they would make use of his wisdom and expertise, we would be in much better shape, both as a party and as a nation.

But of corse TPTB marginalize him instead, provably because a lot of them fear his honesty would end up uncovering *their* corruption, too.

[uponit7771]

14. +1

[Cha]

13. K&R!

[popsdenver]

16. My dream would be

My dream would be…………that ANONYMOUS goes into the Health Care computer program, and finds that the KOCH brothers hired some hackers to make the computer program have problems, and then ANONYMOUS told Obama that while they were looking at the program, they took it upon themselves to correct the entire computer code and make the website perfectly operational…………

Then, they would give the Department of Justice and FBI the paper trails, the names of the ones that corrupted the computer program, and the names of the people that paid for the sabotage to be done………………….

I would actually be quite surprised if secretly, ANONYMOUS wasn't working on the computer program to correct the computer code problems just so they can just give the corrections to the White House on a silver platter……..

[blue neen]

17. Howard Dean.

I love that man....we don't hear enough from him.

[fadedrose]

19. ++++++++

[IrishAyes]

18. As usual Dr. Dean is correct.

[BlueMTexpat]

20. You gotta love Howard Dean

for telling it like it is.

And I do! Thanks for posting.

[Aldo Leopold]

21. Still quite a fan of Howard

Have been from the start.

[Skidmore]

22. I so wanted Dr. Dean to be head of DHHS.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

23. Dean is right. And Obama should have selected the former doctor as head of HHS.

Set up the federal exchange like smaller, more manageable Medicare regions. With a helluva lot more testing.

[WinstonSmith4740]

24. Totally agree!

And Obama should have selected the former doctor as head of HHS.

I truly think this was one of the early decisions that Rahm Emanuel had WAY too much say in. He and the good doctor did NOT see eye to eye on many things, especially Emanuel's insistence that the Dems had to become "Republican Lite" to survive. He's the one that threw the public option under the bus with-in a week of Obama's inauguration. I understood Obama wanting a "pit bull mentality" to guard the door, but Emanuel hurt a lot in the early days.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

25. I was going to add "Fuck Rahm Emanuel" to my post...

but's it's a beautiful Sunday and I was trying to be nice.

[WinstonSmith4740]

26. Glad to be of assistance!!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

27. Heh heh...